


Legal Affairs

by jjokkiri



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: ??? almost, Alternate Universe, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Strangers to Lovers, ft. lawsuits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 07:51:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9113686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/pseuds/jjokkiri
Summary: Apparently, there are perks in the worst, Kihyun finds, after getting the lovely Christmas gift of beingwrongfullysued by some inconsiderate bitch.





	

There are a number of normal expectations for the holiday season. One would think that purchasing hundreds of dollars’ worth of gifts for family and friends and receiving half-assed, haphazardly wrapped gifts in response was the joy of the holiday season. Yoo Kihyun would generally be a lot happier about the approaching of Christmastime and the gathering of his friends and family into his small loft apartment, above the bakery he owned, to celebrate everything associated with the closing of the year.

He _would_ be, if his initial idea of a boring holiday season wasn’t crushed in favour of standing in the middle of a small claims court and being accused of a thousand different things that he definitely _didn’t_ commit to. The twenty-four year old man has only been living on his own for a short period of time and well-liked by the people in the area——but, why wouldn’t they like the best owner of the best bakery in town?

So, his temper flared when a ridiculous customer had threatened to sue him for _almost_ slipping in the middle of the parking lot, which he swore he’d salted in the morning, before heading back inside to check on his oven.

He didn’t wake up at five in the morning every single day to make fresh batches of delicious pastries to be treated like this.

Kihyun would, until the end of time, deny the accusation of negligence on his part, because in his reasonable state of mind, he’d done everything he possibly could have done to prevent someone from falling flat on their ass and hurting their arm on his property. Maybe, if the woman hadn’t been wearing ridiculously high heels while trying to walk past a great expanse of ice, then she wouldn’t have fallen and hurt herself. In his eyes, she was lucky that only her arm was hurt.

It made absolutely no sense to him for her to be suing him——it was hardly his job to be the one to ice the parking lot, anyway. That was done out of the goodness of his own heart, because he didn’t want anyone to die in remote proximity to his immediate property——whether it be because he wasn’t interested in getting sued, or simply because he was a good person.

Clearly, his efforts go unappreciated, because there’s still a ridiculous woman trying to argue with Kihyun’s lawyer about how it was apparently his negligent fault that she’d fallen and hurt herself.

And Yoo Kihyun was raised properly——Heaven forbid he throttle a woman in the middle of a small claims court and make his case even bigger——but everything leaving the woman’s lips made him want to throw a solid punch at her. If she were someone who didn’t carry herself like the queen of the world, then maybe he could have forgiven her and taken a little pity, but he’s not sure what a woman who carried a Louis Vuitton bag and wears what he thinks are Louboutin’s wants with a small bakery owner.

He’s quietly counting it down in his head, because if she says one more ridiculous sentence, he’s quite sure that every etiquette and mannerism lesson he’d ever learned in his life was going to burst into flames along with his temper.

 _Just one more word, lady_.

There’s an entire court of people around them——it’s the 19th of December and Kihyun thinks that they should all be at home instead of witnessing this woman go off about nonsense. That’s where he would much rather be. There are piercing eyes around them and it ticked at Kihyun’s nerves——the baker ran restless hands through his dark hair and grimaced as the woman’s lawyer moved onto to speak about how it was _Kihyun’s_ responsibility to ensure that it was impossible for someone to fall.

Gritting his teeth, the baker slammed his hands against the table in front of him and drew the entire room’s attention, “And how was I supposed to do that? Go out and buy a pair of ridiculously priced and completely unreasonable high heels and attempt to skid across a sheet of ice and pray I don’t die?”

From the corner of his eye, he saw a man sitting in the seats bite back an amused smile at his remark. The brunet brushed it off, because he hardly saw humour in his irritated remark. Kihyun crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the lawyer and the offended woman in front of him. His sarcastic remark was accompanied by a surprised look from his lawyer.

With an annoyed expression on her face, the woman tilted her head haughtily at him and nodded, “Yes. That’s exactly what you were supposed to do. You’re supposed to make sure that _everyone_ would be safe walking on your property.”

Kihyun’s teeth audibly ground against one another when he grit his teeth again, and he practically felt his temper blaze inside of him. And there’s suddenly nothing he’d like more than to hit the woman upside the head and yell at her.

She’s shrieking about something absolutely nonsensical and ridiculous about how it has to be his responsibility to do certain things as if it weren’t _her_ responsibility that she make sure she wouldn’t die in the middle of a parking lot——whether that meant bringing an extra pair of shoes in the car and changing out at a destination.

He wants to scream at her and lay down the facts of every legal clause which would declare it to _not_ be his fault that she hurt her arm, but, he’s supposed to be nice to people because that’s the only way that people would be nice to him. Yet at the same time, this woman was anything but nice to _him_ , so why would he need to be nice to her, right?

He couldn’t even grasp why she even had a lawyer backing up her claims.

“Mr. Yoo,” his lawyer tried to calm him down with a warning call of his name, but he hardly hears the remark and he barely registers that he’s gotten out of his seat, until there’s a tug on his wrist——strong and secure on his wrist, ensuring that he wouldn’t take a step further.

“You don’t want security to get involved,” came the voice from behind him and Kihyun turned his head to look at the man holding him back. It’s the man who’d laughed at his remark earlier.

Angrily seating himself, Kihyun huffed as he seated himself again and the judge at the front of the room dismissed the room, declaring that there couldn’t be a proper decision made when there was so much anger in the room. Kihyun suddenly felt the need to yell at the man——it obviously _wasn’t_ a case that he should lose.

 

 

 

And when he exited the room, filing out after everyone else, he found the man who’d held him back leaning against the wall beside the door——seemingly waiting for him. It’s a little awkward, because he isn’t quite sure what he’s supposed to say, but an expression of gratitude is dancing on the tip of his tongue.

Perhaps, it was a little obvious, because the man grinned a little and shoved his hands into his pockets——Kihyun took a short moment to take in the other man’s appearance: a handsome face; styled black hair; designer button-down and slacks; and obviously rich.

“Hi,” he greeted with a gentle smile. Kihyun froze, shifting his eyes to the side and clearing his throat.

“... Hi,” he responded, awkwardly. The taller man chuckled.

“Yoo Kihyun, right?”

“If you were waiting for an expression of gratitude,” Kihyun started, after confirming his name to the other man. “Then, I want to tell you that I’m grateful that you stopped me from hitting a woman and potentially getting me into more trouble with the law. So, um... thank you... mister.”

“Hoseok,” the man supplied, “Shin Hoseok.”

Pushing his pride off, Kihyun repeated the word of gratitude, “Thank you, Hoseok.”

The taller man grinned and shoved his hands into his pockets and his eyes twinkled a little and he tilted his head, glancing at Kihyun. There’s a brief moment of silence in staring at one another before Hoseok spoke up.

“Would you like to talk to someone who would listen?” the man asked and Kihyun blinked curiously.

“What?”

“You seem extremely frustrated because no one is willing to listen to you in the courtroom, and I don’t know, maybe you want to let out your anger on someone or something.”

“I’m not going to express my anger to a stranger,” Kihyun replied, awkwardly.

Hoseok smiled, and he’s a little too kind for someone who has just met him——Kihyun can’t help but think that perhaps, the other man had ulterior motives in being so nice to him. “We don’t have to be strangers.”

And that smile makes his breath catch in the back of his throat.

Quietly, Kihyun bit his lower lip, “... I own a bakery; it’s the one in question with this lawsuit. But, we do make some nice coffee, so if you want to drop by...”

“Of course.”

 

 

 

In the bakery, Hoseok reveals to him that he’s friends with the woman who had sued Kihyun and he thinks that it’s absolutely ridiculous that it had gotten this far into the court. Kihyun had been a little too enthusiastic in agreeing him that he’d almost spilled a little bit of the coffee he was stirring and Hoseok laughed at him, amusement dancing in his eyes.

And when he puts the cup of coffee down on the table and takes a seat across from the taller man, Hoseok brought the cup up to his lips and smiles at him from over the rim of it. “I know we’re meeting and talking under unfortunate circumstances, but I really do have to apologize for her.”

“Why do you have to apologize for her?” Kihyun asked, brows furrowing in slight confusion at the other and Hoseok chuckled.

“Apparently, the rich like to sue anyone for anything and everything,” Hoseok replied. Kihyun rolled his eyes, feeling his irritation creeping into his mind again.

“So, I do have to apologize for her, because she’s never going to step her pride down enough to realize that she’s in the wrong.”

“This is the most ridiculous lawsuit I’ve never thought that I’d ever be involved in,” Kihyun spat. Hoseok arched an eyebrow and the smile never left his lips as his eyes studied Kihyun’s expression. And under other circumstance, Kihyun would hate the fact that the older man was looking at him with such pitying eyes, but in the current moment, his temper overrode every other factor of conversation.

“I think I have to agree with you, and I’ve accompanied Hyewon through a lot of lawsuits, because she never seems to want to stop suing anyone. She usually doesn’t win, but she has the money for it.”

Kihyun scoffed, “But, we common people don’t seem to have enough money to keep up with _her_. Is this a hobby? It’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard of.”

“Rich people are stupid,” Hoseok supplied with amused eyes. The baker arched an eyebrow at him with a curious purse of his lips.

“Aren’t you one of those rich people?” he asked.

Hoseok laughed, picking up the cup and bringing it back up to his lips. The younger man could hardly understand what was so funny about his inquiry, but he refrained from making a comment about it. “Are you calling me stupid, or are you genuinely asking?”

The baker flushed a little and shook his head, “I’m genuinely asking... I’m not going to call anyone stupid during a first meeting, unless they really deserve it. Like your friend; Hyewon or whatever.”

“Just don’t knock her out or something,” Hoseok advised with a cheeky smile, “You know you can win this lawsuit if you refrain from committing to assault, right?”

“You do realize that every single thing she does is just _asking_ for a punch in the face, right?”

Hoseok grinned at him without a word, eyes still dancing with an amused light.

And somehow, their topic of conversation strays and they find themselves talking about everything under the sun. Perhaps, though, it was the older man’s intention to have Kihyun’s mind slip away from the lawsuit and everything which dragged his mood down during the holiday season. Hoseok doesn’t leave him until late afternoon, when he receives a phone call, demanding his attention elsewhere.

But, even after Hoseok is gone, Kihyun doesn’t really stop thinking about his smile.

He thinks it might be problematic. Maybe.

 

 

 

The next morning, when the bakery is actually open for business again (because Kihyun had demanded that he be allowed to operate the bakery even while the lawsuit was ongoing, because it was his only source of income), it comes to him as a surprise when Hoseok visits him again. The black haired man simply waltzed into the establishment and approached Kihyun as he stood at the counter, wiping down the granite surface from a bit of the sprinkles he’d spilled off a cupcake.

He’s used to responding to the chiming of the bell fixed atop the door as an indication of a customer requiring his attention, but Kihyun barely had the time to turn his head before the man announced his order.

“I’d like whatever you made me yesterday, whenever your break is,” came a teasing voice from in front of him and Kihyun looked up in surprise, before locking eyes with Hoseok and biting back an amused smile.

“You’re back?” he asked.

Hoseok is dressed down today——he has a pair of sweatpants on and a warm sweatshirt; the hood is down, but from the way Hoseok’s styled hair was flattened against his head proved that he’d been wearing it. The older man is grinning at him and he’s lucky there’s no one in the line behind him, because it means Kihyun actually has a little bit of time to spare to speak to him.

Turning slightly with a smile on his lips, Kihyun reached for a cup to make Hoseok his requested latte.

The black haired man chuckled and leaned against the counter, flirtatiously smiling at him, “Did I catch you during your break?”

Kihyun shook his head, watching as he poured cream into the coffee cup and watched as it changed colour, “No, but I can take my break right now, if you want me to. There’s not very many customers and I’m pretty sure that I can get one of the kitchen staff to come and help me out for a bit, if anything comes up.”

He didn’t wait for the older man’s response to the remark; even as he spoke, his hands moved behind him to undo his apron and he carefully folded it, leaving it on the counter. He peeked into the doors leading to the kitchen and called for a young man to come up to the front, before motioning for Hoseok to follow him to a more solitary corner of the bakery.

When they both take a seat, Kihyun hands Hoseok the cup of coffee, as if just realizing that he was still holding onto the drink and the taller man took it from him, the corners of his lips tugged upwards. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Kihyun wonders how someone can always look so happy in every single situation.

(And later, he’d come to learn that Hoseok smiles the brightest around him.)

“Is there a reason you came back?”

Hoseok chuckled, “Oh, not necessarily. I just wanted to see you again.”

The blatant response had Kihyun a little taken back and he swore that his cheeks weren’t beginning to heat up from such a simple statement. He wasn’t the type to think too deeply about absent remarks, but when his eyes met with Hoseok’s again, there was a glimmer in them that made his heart skip a beat.

He decidedly thinks that he kind of likes it.

Of course, so long as Hoseok wasn’t hanging around him to ease him into submitting into defeat in the lawsuit, because that would never happen for as long as he lived. But, something about the fact that Hoseok was rich (and handsome) made him think that he wouldn’t be the type of person to buy cheap coffee just to coax someone to give up a lawsuit for the sake of his friends.

“You wanted to see me again?”

“Yeah, I had a good time talking to you yesterday,” the other man answered, “You’re kind of cute and fun to talk to, so I just wanted to drop by to see how you were doing.”

It’s obvious that he’s being flirted with, but Kihyun silently thought about how that was too good to be true. Not Hoseok——he was completely out of Kihyun’s league, in his own opinion.

“But, you just saw me yesterday,” Kihyun replied, unsure of what to say.

And there’s that smile again.

“But, I didn’t see you all night.”

A part of Kihyun really wants to throw something at the older man for saying something so unnecessarily sappy, when they’d just met the previous day.

“That’s disgusting.”

But, he thinks about that for the rest of the day.

 

 

 

For the next three days——leading up to the next time that Kihyun needs to make another appearance in the courtroom, Hoseok shows up at his bakery at random hours. Sometimes, he offers to buy a coffee and a slice of cake, before pulling Kihyun away from the counter and striking up a conversation with him. Other times, he visits more than once in a day and takes a seat in a random corner of the bakery and watches the younger man work.

Kihyun finds it a little weird, but it seemed that everyone who worked for Kihyun thought that it was the cutest thing in the world——forget the intentions, simply because they couldn’t pinpoint the reason for Hoseok being there at any given period of time. And in the three days, every single worker booked for the week had seen Hoseok at least once, because he happened to pop in at different shifts; Kihyun worked all day.

It’s the night of the third day——the fifth day they’ve known one another——Hoseok walks into the bakery (after having been there earlier that morning) and asks for the last slice of the strawberry cake in the display. Kihyun had been wiping down the display, but he placed the rag down and chuckled, washing his hands and moving to serve the slice of cake to the older man.

“You know we’re closed, right?”

Hoseok laughed, “The sign doesn’t say so, and the doors aren’t locked. The lights are still on and you’re still here.”

“I live upstairs, Hoseok,” Kihyun replied, “I’m always here.”

Taking the plate from Kihyun’s hands, Hoseok grinned, “That’s good to know. I know just where to find you when I miss you, then.”

“Miss me?” Kihyun repeated, a little shocked. The taller man raised an eyebrow at him and nodded, fork between his lips with a small piece of the cake in his mouth.

“Yes, miss you.”

“Why would you miss me?”

It takes Hoseok three seconds to move past Kihyun and place his plate of cake onto the counter to ensure he didn’t drop it with his next actions, before turning to look at the younger man dead in the eyes. It’s a little nerve-wracking and somehow intimidating, all at the same time, but in no ways bad.

“You can’t tell me that you haven’t been noticing that I blatantly flirt with you, right?” Hoseok arched an eyebrow, stepping a little closer and frowning a little.

Kihyun placed both palms on the counter behind him and leaned back a little, “It’s not that I didn’t notice, it’s more of... I wasn’t quite sure——”

And then suddenly, Hoseok’s lips are on his——strong arms around his waist and pulling him flush against him; Kihyun’s eyes fly open at the sudden action, but then they flutter shut and he’s slowly melting into the feeling of Hoseok’s soft lips pressed against his.

Surprise is an understatement, but it’s all with pleasant thoughts.

Hoseok tastes a little like the strawberry crème and a distinctive sweetness he’d never be able to replicate. It’s somehow dizzying and when the brunet pulled away from him, his eyes are glazed over with a hazy mix of shock and something else he can’t quite pinpoint.

It’s overwhelming for a fifth day of acquaintance.

“What weren’t you sure about?”

Kihyun stared at him, a little dazed. And all of a sudden, he’s entirely so unsure of what he’s supposed to say, but he kind of really wants to do that again.

 

 

 

Hoseok creatively coaxes Kihyun into letting him come upstairs with him, when he helps clean up the bakery for the night, locks the doors for the younger man and then turned to Kihyun and pouting (“I don’t want to leave yet,” he’d whined, and Kihyun is almost certain that such an expression had gotten Shin Hoseok anything and everything he had ever wanted as a child).

The younger man had never been very good at saying _no_ , and it all dwindled down to the both of them curled up on Kihyun’s sofa, after he’d ordered pizza for dinner (too lazy to cook after a long day). Hoseok had stolen half of his food, but he’d ordered with the consequences in mind.

Their eyes are absently directed at the television, though neither of them really care about the moving images on the screen; Kihyun’s looking more at Hoseok through the corner of his eye than anything. Hoseok is perfectly aware of it, although he clearly pretended that he hadn’t the slightest clue.

And somehow, when the main characters in the drama are pulling one another closer and leaning in for a kiss, Kihyun found himself seated in Hoseok’s lap with the taller man’s hand on the small of his back. He isn’t quite sure how it all happened, but he isn’t complaining about it at all.

“They’re kissing,” was the short statement with a cheeky smile, before Hoseok tugged him a little closer and tilted his head to let their lips meet gently.

Kihyun isn’t someone who would melt into the arms of someone so easily, but there was just something so comforting about Shin Hoseok which he couldn’t deny. So, with their lips gently pressed together for the second time that night, Kihyun let himself forget about his surroundings as his hands rested on the older man’s chest.

A second kiss turns into three, and then four; then more.

They finally pull away from one another when Kihyun’s breathless and dizzy; Hoseok’s smirking at him in amusement and there’s that sudden urge to punch the older man in the throat, gently, all over again; this time, accompanied with a pounding of his heartbeat in his chest.

“So...” he started, trying to catch his breath between his words, eyes glistening as he gazed down at Hoseok, lips rubbed a pretty shade of red. The black-haired man arched an eyebrow and smiled at him, loosening the grip he had on his waist.

“Hmm?”

Hoseok is looking at him with such fond eyes and it makes his heart flutter a little. It’s a feat for someone whom he hasn’t even known for over a week, but there’s something about the older man that makes him a little _weak_. With their eyes locked, Kihyun almost held his breath for a reason he couldn’t even grasp.

Kihyun’s lips parted slightly before he found his words and he bit back the urge to laugh a little, “So, do you think you could convince your friend to drop the lawsuit?”

And Hoseok laughs——it’s a powerful, striking sound but somehow melodic all at the same time. Kihyun finds himself in a state of awe at the man he’s seated upon.

“I don’t think that’s something I can do,” Hoseok answered. “But, I’m kind of hoping that I can convince you to date me.”

But, even while Kihyun’s scowling at him and pushing at his chest, there’s a fluttering thought in the back of his mind that’s thanking the woman for allowing him to meet Shin Hoseok. And even if that didn’t completely solve the issue of being unnecessarily sued, he’s sure that in the long run, getting to know Hoseok is one of the best Christmas presents he could receive.

Especially when the older man looked at him with such fondness.

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be my christmas present to you guys, but i got busy. but, i did swear on twitter that i'd get it done before the end of 2016 and i did!! so, i don't really know what this is but i hope you enjoyed.
> 
> as always, comments are loved and you can always find me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/yuseokki/)!


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